Should City Aid Citizens with Tree Removal?

             In 2017, sly as a virus, the Cascade City Council killed off the Sidewalk Committee and passed an ordinance to make citizens responsible for their own sidewalks without ever making an announcement. As it stands now, the city can order you to repair your sidewalk and incidentally you, dear citizen, are responsible if somebody falls on it.

Recently it was noted there are a large number of dead and dying trees around town, casualties of both our 3-year drought, an emerald ash borer infestation and derechos two Julys running. At the 28 July 2023 meeting Council passed a Tree Ordinance with some dissention about the time-frames citizens should be granted to hire a service and have the tree removed.

Councilwoman Megan Oliphant argued that “removing a tree costs $1,000, and nobody has that kind of money lying around.” Councilman Andy Kelchen, who apparently does, argued for shortening the deadlines saying, “People have known about it (their dead trees) for years, so….” He might be right about ash trees dying from emerald ash borer, but I will personally invite Mr. Kelchen to come here and see a tree I myself planted 25 or 30 years ago—a willow, which has succumbed to the drought in the last three weeks.

No one on council suggested any financial help for any citizen—no matter how much trouble they might have paying for the removal of a couple trees—as in one case, a family has more than one dead tree. There was only a short discussion of trying to make an arrangement with a tree removal firm to make it worth his while to come to town for tree removal several days/weeks running. Under three separate programs—TIF (Tax Increment Financing) Rebates, Façade Reimbursement and Business Incentives for the most recent fiscal year 2021-2022, the city has paid out some enviable sums of money to some of the most well-off people and businesses in and around the town:

            Premium Plant Services --$19,239.25

           McDermott Industries--$14,099.06

            Callahan Construction--$38,690.20

Under the Façade Program, $24,000 was paid to Centro for fixing up the outside of its buildings. The new Brewery Owners got $600,000 of state money (your Iowa taxes) to renovate the old Dalhem Feed Store; Cascade citizens are chipping in $70,000.

We have no problems spending money; we just seem to have a problem spending it on people who really need help. This accounting does not include some of the large sums paid out in the past. We know of course that we sent almost $300,000 to the out-of-town owners of Brothers Market over the last decade. Some of us still haven’t recovered from the city paying Jesse Loewen $257,000 of our taxes to renovate the old Farmers Bank abandoned when Jeremy Miller absconded and left us holding that bag.  The new gazebo in Riverview Park cost us upwards of $135,000.

This is why I am running for Council because people who really need city help are not receiving it—ordinary citizen’s claims are not even articulated in council these days.